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Do you do jumps?

François Pugh

Skiing the powder
Skier
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Nov 17, 2015
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7,617
Location
Great White North (Eastern side currently)
I used to send very big cliffs while living in Jackson from 98 to 02. When I moved to Flagstaff I tried a few cliff lines but every time I did I would scrape rocks just before the take off. Our wind and intense solar has a negative impact on snow around the rocks so I stopped. I used to hit big park jumps too but as I’ve gotten older I’m really scared to get hurt. I’m 45 now and my body doesn’t bounce back like it used to, injuries and pain really linger and that’s no fun. I’ve also had around 12 concussions so I’m legit scared to hit my head again. My inner voice warns me about that.


Small airs that naturally work mid line or mid turn or off a roller or cornice are still within my comfort zone tho.

This is me jumping Smart Bastard back in 01/02. I smacked down pretty hard on this day, it was not nearly as soft as I hoped it would be. It felt like six inches on a fairly firm base.
George Foreman won the WBA heavyweight boxing championship at 45. Just say'n.
I'm with you on the importance of avoiding concussions though.
 

raisingarizona

Out on the slopes
Skier
Joined
Sep 30, 2016
Posts
1,112
George Foreman won the WBA heavyweight boxing championship at 45. Just say'n.
I'm with you on the importance of avoiding concussions though.

That’s awesome! All I know is that my body is telling me no more. The drive has diminished and I’m happy dad skiing. I still go fast and ski smooth and that’s enough for me at this age.
 
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raisingarizona

Out on the slopes
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Joined
Sep 30, 2016
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1,112
It's over at 4 minutes in.

Anyway, great stuff.... and some crazy stuff (to me anyway!) ... what's the blood from at 1:05? Ski? Pole? Knee?

Knee to my face after coming up short of my transition off a 40 footer.
 

LiquidFeet

instructor
Instructor
Joined
Nov 12, 2015
Posts
6,697
Location
New England
Did you wish you have a mouth guard when that happened?

For my one big jump (yes, it was big but it wasn't hospital air like your jumps) my knees hit my chin upon landing and I barely avoided biting the tongue in half. I skied off just fine, but that was the last big jump I ever did.
 

raisingarizona

Out on the slopes
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Sep 30, 2016
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1,112
Did you wish you have a mouth guard when that happened?

For my one big jump (yes, it was big but it wasn't hospital air like your jumps) my knees hit my chin upon landing and I barely avoided biting the tongue in half. I skied off just fine, but that was the last big jump I ever did.

I’m not sure a mouth guard would have helped, it was my nose that I broke.

Jeez, biting a chunk of tongue off would be extremely painful I’d imagine.
 

Crudmaster

tinyurl.com/pungjgt
Skier
Joined
Aug 21, 2016
Posts
159
Location
Seattle, Crystal Mountain
DO I do jumps? No.... but I once did


 750000 PCH ski jump Colorado.jpg



170508 PCH daffys at ages 16 and 59.jpg
 

Tex

Yee-haw!
Skier
Joined
Feb 8, 2020
Posts
1,776
Location
Texas
Airplane turn, Winter Park 1985... In order to carve this turn on the air, it's magic and requires the ski gods to sprinkle magic dust on you on the lift, you know it when you see sparkle in the air.... If you do not believe in ski gods, well I guess we have to agree to disagree.

wp1985-2.JPG


Airplane turn on water, 70's... We didn't have fat wake boards back then or wake boats, we made do...

Photo_2021-07-30_172505 (2).jpg


Photo_2021-07-30_172308 (2).jpg


Bonus pic...

Photo_2021-07-30_172616 (2).jpg
 

dan ross

Making fresh tracks
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Joined
Dec 27, 2016
Posts
1,287
Through my 20s, anything everything with a decent landing zone, smaller cliffs. 30s-40 all but the biggest tabletops in big kid parks. These days at 50+ only the small to medium ones. Haven't "floated" a helicopter since age 30. Tried a couple really quick low ones.. Not nearly as fun.
Pretty much the same here but I spent some time on water ramps in the 70’s. My last helicopter was probably just shy of 50 . It’s like riding a bicycle except it isn’t. Once you have a mortgage and dependents and life insurance the calculus is different even if you can still do it. Sometimes, when I have trouble falling asleep , I’ll visualize what it was like to do back flips from my POV. My version of counting sheep.
 

dan ross

Making fresh tracks
Skier
Joined
Dec 27, 2016
Posts
1,287
I'm 59 years old, I do not catch air any more, not big air. At some point when you get older, you lose a lot of your equilibrium. In my younger days, I always felt very comfortable in the air. I took gymnastics as a kid, loved doing flips on the trampoline and diving boards, it all carried over to skiing. Probably 15 years ago, I went off the diving board and chunked a 1 and half, I was completely lost in the air, I realized then my "air" days are over.
That equilibrium loss is partially due to the inner ear being less resilient as we age so I am told. I’ve lost track of where I was twice , once on a water ramp and once on a trampoline and it’s scary. I saw Simone Biles have this problem and bow out and I totally get it. I saw it happen on snow to a guy at Stratton (Dirk Douglas) with disastrous results.
 
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